What Could Have Been
by Xylexia
Summary: Yako Katsuragi reflects upon her time spent with Neuro, and the closeness that developed between them during the demons last days in the Human World. This is a single chapter short story. Contains manga spoilers from last few chapters. Please R&R!


Anime: Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro, Neuro x Yako

**Warning: Contains spoilers from the last few manga chapters. **

Summery: Yako Katsuragi's feelings regarding Neuro's departure.

Disclaimer: I do not own MTNN or any of its characters!

AN: This is kind of a prologue to a longer fanfic I'm going to write, but it's not really a requirement to read, does that make sense? ^.^

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Yako Katsuragi sighed inwardly as she smiled and greeted yet another random fan of hers. She was in an airport, heading back to Tokyo. She had just finished negotiating a truce between a terrorist group that had taken hostages at the Korean Embassy. She had walked right in and started eating lunch and talked them right out of it. Yep, just another ordinary day for Yako Katsuragi.

If you would have asked her four years ago if she ever thought of becoming a world-renowned detective, she'd have laughed and asked you to pass the rice balls. Until that fateful day, she'd just been an ordinary girl with an abnormally large appetite. And then she met Neuro. The Emperor Demon Nougami Neuro, who had changed her life forever.

He showed up one day and asked if she wanted to solve a puzzle, the puzzle of her Dad's murder, and it all went from there. Neuro trained her, at least that's what he would call it. She always considered it torture. He'd physically and mentally torment her day in and day out until slowly but surely she became immune to most of it, tolerant to the rest, always challenging her mind and the way she thought. He gave her confidence, and helped her realize her ability to see into the hearts of the darkest type of people.

And then came Sicks, and his "New Bloodline," who destroyed everything. Neuro took his pawns out one by one until it was just him and Sicks. Neuro won, but only just. He was on the brink of death as the B2-Stealth Bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean just outside Japan, where he was found, dying. He was in a coma-type state for a week, whatever you'd call that for a demon, before he was awaken by one of his own kind. A odd female demon named Zera had come to gloat that he was dying, asking him to go back to the Demon world, to Hell. Neuro agreed.

Neuro tried to warn Yako that he might never see her again, that the transition between the human world and Hell might cause him to leap ahead a thousand years or get lost in another dimension entirely. She just smiled at him and his unspoken words; he was worried about her. 'Quickly return stupid demon!' she said, beaming at him. She told him she understood, and that she'd continue to evolve while he was gone. That she'd be there when he got back, and she would be shining so brightly that he'd be able to find her once again.

That was today, three years ago. Ever since then Yako would find her mind wondering, images and memories would resurface, and she'd find herself in the most depressing state, her chest tightening painfully at the thought of her lost partner. She glared up at the terminal and was relieved. Her flight would be boarding now. She stood, signing a random notepad thrust at her, before picking up her bag and standing in line.

She smiled wearily. Ever since Neuro had left, her fame had gotten even bigger, and she had slowly but surely fallen out of the role of detective, and right into the role of negotiator. Being Detective had always been Neuros specialty, skillfully unlocking the tricks of a crime and then piecing together all the evidence. Yako had always been the one to unlock the criminal's heart. She would slip inside with her honesty and break through their evil intent with her probing questions. Neuro saw inside her this unique ability, and forced it out of her. He would play mind games with her and force her into life and death situations where their lives were both in her hands. He made her evolve into the person she had become today, and for that she was eternally grateful to him.

Yako handed her boarding pass in to the flight attendant and made her way down the walkway. It made her sad to think of a future without her 'assistant' by her side. He was the most sadistic person she had ever met, and even though most of those sadistic tendencies were directed at her, she missed him all the more for it. She missed all his demeaning pet names, his traps and the way he'd appear on top the ceiling and look down at her. She even missed his abandonment techniques that would leave her straining for her life for hours on end.

She smirked, remembering the time she thought she would finally have her chance at revenge. Neuro was passed out, after fighting with one of the New Bloodline, and she had a marker! She snuck up on him and was just about to doodle all over his face when he woke up and snatched it from her hand, thus pinning her to the floor and writing 'pig, louse, slave' all over her face.

She still paid the rent for that office, though she hadn't gone back to it since that day three years ago, when Neuro left. She locked it up, unable to bare cleaning it, thus removing all that was left of Neuro from her life. All she had of him were memories and that office. And Akane. 'Poor Akane,' she thought. Akane had withered up soon after Neuro had left. Having no demonic energy nearby to fuel her battery, it soon gave out on her, and the length of braid that was Akane ceased to be.

Shelving her bag, she took her seat in the right aisle, next to the window, and lay her head back, her eyes fluttering sleepily. Her mind flashed back to the night after she had seen Honjou and Sasazuka killed right in front of her. She had been traumatized, and even though Neuro had shown concern by asking what was wrong, she had snapped at him. She had placed all the blame on him for the emotions and turmoil she was feeling and then she had told him she wished they had never met. She had regretted the words immediately after they left her mouth. The look on his face, in his eyes…she had hurt him. He then had looked at her, his indifferent mask in place, called her a coward and thanked her for her help. Then he opened the door and told her to disappear. He had hurt her back and she had completely deserved it. Guilt panged in her chest.

She unconsciously furrowed her brow. Now, looking back on it, his reaction brought her comfort. Yes she had hurt him with her words, and she was sorry for that. But in his response, his reaction towards her, only solidified her once fragile belief that he cared about her. Being the demon that he was, he lashed back the only way he knew how, by making her feel the kind of pain she had just put him through.

Not too long after, they had made up, and it was like nothing had ever happened, except that they had grown closer together. She realized this when they were on the run from Sicks and they were sitting in the back of the truck Godai was driving. There they had spoken to each other with only their eyes. Together they realized, that might be the last time they ever saw each other, that this was their last puzzle. He surprised her then by placing his hand on her knee, and she did the same to him. It had been the first time he had initiated any kind of contact that did not involve torturing her or inflicting pain. Yes, they had indeed grown closer.

Then after it was all said and done, he left. He had to, or he would have died. She understood that, but in secret, she mourned the loss of their companionship and what might have been. He had been taken away from her just as their friendship truly began to develop.

She sighed, and opened her eyes, shaking herself out of her thoughts. She went through this every now and then, these small bouts of depression. All she had to do was remind herself that if Neuro were here he'd put her in a head lock or something and tell her to get over it. She knew he wouldn't want her to be like this, so she tried not to be.

The flight attendant passed by, offering her some tea and a snack, which she took, glad for anything to distract her from her thoughts. She had just broke open the little baggy her snack was in when she heard a thump outside, right next to her window. She arched a brow, glancing at the window. She was about to pass it off as a bird when an odd shape outside the window caught her eye.

It was the tip of a pointy black dress shoe.

Her eyes widened.

She peered out of the window and locked gazes with the one person she had resigned herself to never see again. She leaned back on closed her eyes, her heart beating widely. 'I have to be dreaming…I'm only seeing him because I've been thinking about him so much recently!' she nodded to herself, and peered back out the window.

He smiled down at her, pointing at her face and saying something that she couldn't hear, but looked strangely like, "this mystery is already on the tip of my tongue."

"Neuro…" she whispered, unconsciously pressing her hand against the class window as she stared up at him. He stared at her curiously, his eyes softening, as he dangled in mid air.

Her eyes clouding over she leaned back in her seat and shut her eyes, vying for control over the surge of emotions that swept through her. She was so relieved and happy to see him that her entire train of thought for the whole trip back to Tokyo was 'he came back he came back he came back'. Lucky for her she had the whole trip to get it out of her system and calm herself down.

Once they had docked, she stood and shakily pulled her bag from the storage compartment and slowly made her way down the aisle. She was completely overcome with nervousness, something she expected to feel around the demon, yet never did, not until now. She took several deep breaths before exiting the tunnel out into the terminal.

She looked around, expecting to see the tall demon in his sharp blue suit and dazzling green eyes, but he was no where to be found. Sighing she made her way down the escalator to the taxi area, doubt washing over her. 'I knew I was seeing things, I'm going mental, it was all in my head!' Ignoring the 'wow is that Yako Kasuragi?' and notepads and shirts thrust out at her, she quickly grabbed her travelers bag from the unloading dock and ran outside. It was pouring. She couldn't care less.

She walked along the street, as if by habit, paying no attention to where she was going, or the rain that had soaked her through. She thought she had seen Neuro, but it was her imagination, and now her heart was torn in two, just as it was the day after he left. She silently thanked the rain, for it was shielding the tears that now unashamedly rolled down her face.

After a while she reached the entrance to her apartments and opened the door. Inside it was nice and warm and she was glad to be home. Tiredly she trooped up the stairs, her case rolling behind her. Going around the corner she stopped before her apartment door and pulled out the keys and attempted to unlock the door, but it wouldn't go in. She frowned, looking down at the handle, when something at the top of her vision caught eye.

_Yako Katsuragi's Demon World Detective Office_ the sign read.

Her eyes widened in shock for the second time that day. 'Why did I end up here?' she boggled over the question, her heart beating in her chest. 'Why of all days, of all times did I come back here?' Her thoughts turned back to Neuro, the one she had seen from the plane that day and an odd feeling prickling at the back of her mind. 'No…it can't be' she thought. Her resolve already failing her, she tested the doorknob.

It was unlocked.

Adrenaline flooding through her, she slowly pushed the office door open.

It was just as she had left it. The blanket she had covered Neuro with, still laying on the couch. The chains he had tortured her that evening with, still on the floor. It was all the same.

Except for the figure staring out the glass window next to the desk.

She dropped her traveling case and moved towards the figure slowly, the figure in the sharp blue suit, black gloves and spiky hair. "Neuro…" she whispered, hardly able to believe.

He turned towards her, smiling, his eyes warm and welcoming.

Before she knew what she had done she had thrown her arms around his waist and was hugging him, his blue suit absorbing the rain and tear drops on her face. She squeezed him as tight as she possibly could, afraid that he was just another vision that would soon slip away from her again. She was surprised when she felt his arms wrap around her in turn, one hand embracing the back of her head gently. They stayed that way for a few moments until she could no longer resist the urge to look up in his eyes. She made to look up at him, and suddenly she felt her middle and head squeezed so tight she felt as if she would pop. She stared up at him with a look of asphyxiation, only to see that all too familiar blank and innocent look on his face.

"I missed my slave!" he said a little too enthusiastically, dropping her to the ground where she proceeded to catch her breath.

She glared up at him, and smiled, "I missed you too, Neuro."

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Daww so sweet! I finished the manga just last weekend and it brought tears to my eyes. I hope they make a sequel!


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